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Summary of the recommendations of the SLIM committee

The result of the work by the SLIM committee was the EMC SLIM report which identified the following 20 recommendations.

  1. The EMC Directive should remain a total harmonisation directive by which free movement of goods is ensured.
  2. The text should ensure that no additional national measures related to EMC are created. The Directive should cover all relevant aspects of EMC which would otherwise allow for such national measures on the basis of Article 36 of the Treaty.
    When assessing the EMC Directive, the global dimension should be taken into account to ensure that:
  3. EMC legislation should not result in added costs for consumers due to unique requirements where this cannot be appropriately justified as being essential for the European market only;
  4. European industry should address a global marketplace without unjustified additional costs and delays.
  5. Functional safety should be addressed in directives containing essential safety requirements.
  6. The impact of functional safety should be investigated in relation to both hardware and software.
  7. The Standing Committee or the Working Parties under these directives should confirm whether or not functional safety is taken into account under their directives.
  8. Immunity requirements should be more fully addressed in the EMC Directive to prevent new national legislation.
  9. The protection requirements of the Directive should contain the emission and immunity requirements in such detail that only specific technical questions (e.g. levels, test methods, requirements specific to certain products or product families) are left to standardisation.
  10. The required "high level of protection" should be achieved by mandatory emission requirements as the first line of defence of the limited electromagnetic spectrum. Those emission requirements should take into account radiated and conducted emissions.
  11. The protection requirements should define certain classes of EMC environment and conditions for the intended use of products within those classified environments.
  12. Suitable definitions of "large machines" and "installations" should be included in the directive; large machines should be treated as installations. For clarification, the definitions of "small installations", "large machines" and "networks" should be added.
  13. In the absence of complaints, installations and large machines should not be subject to assessment tests. If assessment is necessary, a possible way may be to monitor emissions from the installation at a reasonable distance from the perimeter of the installation (radiation) or at the utility supply connection point (conduction).
  14. The Directive should be amended in a way that compliance of a fixed installation with the essential requirements of the Directive should be ensured by following the EMC assembly instructions given by the manufacturer of the constituent parts and using a method of installation which is in accordance with good engineering practice within the context of the installation, as well as installation rules (national, regional or local). For fixed installations there should be no need for CE marking, an EC declaration of conformity or involvement of a competent body.
  15. The Directive should allow installations to be constituted by either:
    • CE marked apparatus (CE+CE=CE),
    • apparatus with CE marking and parts without,
    • not CE marked parts at all.
    In case of a challenge appropriate measures have to be performed either on component or on installation level (compensation measures) to bring the installation in compliance with the protection requirements of the directive.
  16. The Commission should request from European standardisation bodies the setting up of a strategic review panel of the EMC standards within the framework of the EMC Directive. Such a panel should consist of a representative of the Commission, standardisation experts from Member States, Industry, CENELEC and ETSI. The task of the panel should be to take a critical look at all EMC standards, their relevance and their applicability. Regarding preparation of future standards the panel should further discuss the necessity of a new mandate from the Commission to CENELEC and ETSI in order to produce fewer and more usable standards.
  17. The Commission should not propose any new vertical EMC legislation unless it is related to safety or it is clearly demonstrated that the particular issue cannot be dealt with adequately within the EMC directive.
  18. The Commission should consider whether there is any need for EMC provisions in existing vertical directives given that relevant technical standards can be produced under the EMC Directive.
  19. The Directive should be reviewed with a view to revision taking due account of the Guidelines, in order to incorporate:
    1. definitions specific to the EMC Directive (components, autonomous function, EMC passive equipment, etc);
    2. the EMC analysis process;
    3. the procedure for application of the Directive to installations, apparatus and systems with various configurations;
    4. any other areas which could be usefully transferred.
  20. The Team underlines that several individual recommendation made above relating mainly, but not exclusively, to the Commission Guidelines should result in the Directive being reviewed and amended. The Team therefore recommends that a review of the Directive be initiated by the Commission.

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